Sunday, June 4, 2017

June 4th...This Day in History (Now with links to other events)

Battle of Midway begins 1942

On this day in 1942, the Battle of Midway–one of the most
decisive U.S. victories against Japan during World War II–begins. During
the four-day sea-and-air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet
succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing
only one of its own, the Yorktown, to the previously invincible Japanese navy.

In six months of offensives prior to Midway, the Japanese had
triumphed in lands throughout the Pacific, including Malaysia,
Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines and numerous island
groups. The United States, however, was a growing threat, and Japanese
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto sought to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet before
it was large enough to outmatch his own.

A thousand miles northwest of Honolulu, the strategic island of
Midway became the focus of his scheme to smash U.S. resistance to
Japan’s imperial designs. Yamamoto’s plan consisted of a feint toward Alaska
followed by an invasion of Midway by a Japanese strike force. When the
U.S. Pacific Fleet arrived at Midway to respond to the invasion, it
would be destroyed by the superior Japanese fleet waiting unseen to the
west. If successful, the plan would eliminate the U.S. Pacific Fleet and
provide a forward outpost from which the Japanese could eliminate any
future American threat in the Central Pacific. U.S. intelligence broke
the Japanese naval code, however, and the Americans anticipated the
surprise attack.

In the meantime, 200 miles to the northeast, two U.S. attack fleets
caught the Japanese force entirely by surprise and destroyed three heavy
Japanese carriers and one heavy cruiser. The only Japanese carrier that
initially escaped destruction, the Hiryu, loosed all its aircraft against the American task force and managed to seriously damage the U.S. carrier Yorktown, forcing its abandonment. At about 5:00 p.m., dive-bombers from the U.S. carrier Enterprise returned the favor, mortally damaging the Hiryu. It was scuttled the next morning.

When the Battle of Midway ended, Japan had lost four carriers, a cruiser and 292 aircraft, and suffered an estimated 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft and suffered approximately 300 casualties.

Japan’s losses hobbled its naval might–bringing Japanese and American
sea power to approximate parity–and marked the turning point in the
Pacific theater of World War II.
In August 1942, the great U.S. counteroffensive began at Guadalcanal
and did not cease until Japan’s surrender three years later.

DONATE

"Would you consider a gift of $5 Dollars?"

We Use Cookies

This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalize ads and to analyze traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies.Learn MoreGot it

VISITORS

Copyright Disclaimer

Print Media/Music/Video selections:

RonDoids does not own the copyright to certain media posted within our site.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."